Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
by fig. 777719929570
Summary: Yay! The first official chapter is now up. plz rate and review next chapter will be here soon. dont know how soon. But soon.


Fire Emblem VIII Vol. 1 The Sacred Stones

**Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones**

**Chapter 1: Just another Day in Renais Castle**

It was another peaceful day in the gardens of Castle Renais. The rare birds were singing cheerfully, and the sun was shining brightly through a cloudless sky. Apart from the birds chirping and the wind blowing, there was no other noise to be heard, and that was just the way Prince Ephraim liked his day to begin. Smiling to himself in satisfaction, he continued to stroll elegantly through the green garden, taking in the beauty of Renais Courtyard. He thought about what would happen that day. He wondered if Eirika would still be able to join him and his friend, or if their father would forbid it.

_Hmph! Must be a bitch, needing your father's permission just to venture outside of the castle walls._ The prince thought to himself curiously and humorously as his right hand lifted up a wooden spear he was holding. As he lifted the worn play-toy level to his face, he subtly examined it, _if only she learned to protect herself, then our father wouldn't need to assign a guardian to her every time she went out. _This last thought made the prince cringe, as he recalled the last time that _he_ was assigned as her guardian. She had started talking to a random peasant in the middle of Renais Capital…

_It was a busy day in Renais Capital city. The common folk were everywhere, and Ephraim did all he could to prevent Eirika from acting like a babbling buffoon in front of the people that worshipped her. He thought that all he needed to do was grit his teeth and keep walking. However, this proved to be unfruitful as he soon heard a familiar voice from behind him._

"_Ephraim! Look!"_

_The prince of Renais spun around as his sister yanked his arm, and he looked in the direction she was pointing. The prince thought it would be something of importance; he was highly disappointed. It was the carcass of a dead rat lying in the middle of the road. It took all Ephraim had to control his frustration in the middle of the capital, and simply responded with the obvious,_

"_Yes Eirika, that's what happens to these vermin when people see them." He walked over to the torn body and spat on it. "There better off dead!" He was sure that it was only his frustration that had provoked his sudden burst of anger towards the small creature, but he didn't know how much of this senseless nonsense he could take._

"_Eirika, listen to me," the prince had got the attention of the princess as he looked directly into her innocent yet mischievous blue eyes. "You cannot act like this outside of the castle."_

"_Why not?" The princess asked him with a playful smile._

_Ephraim looked away in embarrassment. "Sometimes I wonder if we are actually related. You are so full of childish energy! You're eighteen now, and it's high time you started acting like it!"_

_But Eirika continued to look puzzled. As if the information that her brother just gave her was completely irrelevant to her previous question. But Eirika didn't need to tell Ephraim this, because her expression gave Ephraim the message as if it were written on paper. With a sympathetic sigh, he placed right hand on her shoulder, as the other hand stretched out and waved across the marketplace._

"_Look at all these people," he appealed to her, in an attempt to educate her child like mind, "all these people look up to you, because you are the daughter of the King of Renais. Do you really think that they would want a childish muppet like you as queen someday?"_

_Now many other people would have seen that little comment as being cold, but Ephraim had called Eirika a childish muppet all her childish life. Eirika just stared into Ephraim's bored looking eyes and said,_

"_I'm never going to be queen though." She hated this idea, but at least it would get Ephraim to leave her alone for a moment. "When father dies, you will be crowned, not me. I'm just a princess." After she said that last sentence, Ephraim released his grip on Eirika's shoulder and stood up straight, leaving Eirika looking pretty small against her brother's height. But not as small as her own words made her feel, "I'm _always _going to be just a princess." She didn't frown or flinch or smile. In fact she kept her face looking emotionless as let two tears fall simultaneously down her delicate face._

_But the emotional sibling moment didn't last long, as Eirika had soon seemed to have forgotten about her lineage handicap, and she was soon back to her chatty self._

"_Excuse me, sir?" The sound of Eirika's voice towards someone she didn't know got his blood pumping, but as he turned around to look at the person to whom she was talking, that person had already replied to her question._

"_Hello there, my young dear," the rather largely-built man responded kindly, what can I do for you today?"_

"_Well, my good man, there is a rat rotting in the middle of street." Eirika implied with a tone that made her sound like a health inspector at a dirty restaurant._

"_It would be ever so kind of you to rid these streets of Renais of the body of that rotting rat; the stench is terrible." Eirika delivered this information emotionlessly, neither with a smile or a frown, giggles or tears._

_The man just looked at the small woman, not knowing what to expect next. He was as baffled as Ephraim was furious. The future king of Renais just continued to stare at his sister, wondering if she would ever grow up._

He had to remind her that talking to strangers was forbidden. She had acted like a toddler, taking interest in just about everything outside the castle walls. He wondered if it was in her capabilities to stop talking for at least a minute. An eighteen year old woman should know when to keep her mouth shut. But having to get someone to hold her hand everytime she went out obviously let her bypass rules of social standing. Pushing these humorous yet embarrassing memories to the back of his mind, he hastily recalled the events that will be taking place today: Training. Spear training to be exact, but not for the prince, as he was already quite the capable fighter, but for Lyon, his friend that should meet him soon.

He continued to stroll peacefully until he reached the spot where he said he would wait for his friend to arrive. He stopped abrubtly and sat down on the lush grass, where he waited patiently.

But elsewhere in the castle, Ephraim's sister, Princess Eirika, was getting ready for what seemed to be a very important occasion. As she sat on a stool in front of a large, expensive looking mirror, she muttered to herself in frustration over the state of her waist length, light blue hair.

"Damn, still not right!" As she looked at it again, she noticed that several strands of hair were still out of place. As she reached for the hairbrush in a slightly agitated manner for what seemed like the millionth time, she grabbed a chunk of hair and ran the brush down her smooth blue hair, barley making a noise, hastily and carefully, taking care not to ruin her already near perfect image. But as she stopped brushing, she looked at it again.

It was perfect. Her hair flowed from her head to her waist like an elegant pure blue waterfall. Her entire body was dressed in a magestic dress which was also the exact colour of her hair. Her feet were wrapped in clear high-heels that not only made look a few inches taller, but also seemed to make her float. As she recognized her own image she smiled to herself in joy, showing off a sparkling set of pure white teeth.

_It is going to be great! _She thought she had everything; looks, fashion, personality. She just hoped that Lyon would see it see that way. She knew what she wanted.

When she seemed satisfied, she stood up and walked over to an elegantly designed window at the other side of the room and twisted the handle. As the princess opened the window, she instantly felt the calm breeze of the Renais Courtyard fill her room with a pleasant swiftness. She closed her eyes in bliss and smelt the air that was circling in all around her.

_The beauty of Renais, _she thought to herself, the rest of her mind blank, _it's just not fair on Grado. _She pondered about the fact that the nation of Grado, the country directly south on the border of Renais, while still clean and unpolluted, kept a wall of pride around itself, as if to let the people of Renais know it was something to be feared and they let them behold it's massive size. But it could never match the amount of pleasantness as the winds of Renais on the walls of Grado. While the people of Renais and Grado were at peace, Grado had always held an air of control over the entire continent of Magvel, Not just because Grado was the by far the largest nation, or even that it had an army twice the size of all the other nation's armies put together, but because of who gives the orders to all of Grado's soliders, the Emperor Vigarde.

All Eirika knew about this man was that he is one of the most respected men in all of Magvel, and because her father trusted him, so did she. As the princess realised that she had spent far too much time pondering about the differences between Renais and Grado, she hastily opened her eyes and gazed out of the window, what she saw got her quite frustrated. A familiar looking, short blue-haired prince was sitting at what he called the 'usual spot' holding up a wooden spear in his right hand. Eirika had wanted to be able to greet Lyon alone for once. But nooooo, Ephraim had to always be there to 'keep daddy's princess in check'. The very thought made her feel sick. She closed her eyes in disgust and looked away from the window.

_Why do I never get anytime when I can just be alone with Lyon? _She thought to herself in both anguish and sorrow, allowing a single tear to drop from her left eye and roll down her flushed cheek, _I always have to have someone watch me! It isn't fair! _She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. Her sorrow had soon converted into anger. As she stormed over to the corner of the room she agitatedly rummaged through a very old-looking cardboard box, it contained all kinds of things, old cuddly toys, make-up accessories, and a couple of old books. But she didn't need any of these, as she rummaged around for the thing she was looking for, she wasn't taking much care in the way she though the box's contents, as she carelessly through the old junk out of the way to find what she wanted. At last she it. She saw her reflection in the item's glorious silver frame resting neatly in the bottom of box. The silver dagger shone with a brilliance that made even the old and dirty box it was in look like a throne.

_This time Ephraim, I shall beat you!_ She thought to herself with playful malice, suddenly brimming with confidence in herself. _You will not beat me this time! _She reached for the dagger slowly as if curious that it might bite her fingers off the moment she touched it, and carefully wrapped her delicate fingers around the solid yet comfortable brass handle. As she felt the daggers weight in her hand when she lifted it out of the box, she suddenly recalled what had happened long ago and why the dagger was left to rust in her old box anyway…

"_Come on Eirika, you can do better than that, can't you? At least _try_ and stay on feet everytime you take a swing."_

The mocking voice of a younger Ephraim still echoed in her head. But as soon as the brief yet humiliating memory invaded her mind, it had left, because her attention was tilted towards the sound of voices from outside her open window…

"Lyon, my old chum!" As the timid-looking boy named Lyon entered the vast courtyard, he looked around and took in its marvellous beauty briefly before noticing that the prince of Renais had just addressed him. As he gave a weak smile he also gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement to Ephraim whom was energetically walking towards him with his arms outstretched. And Lyon knew what was coming; he had experienced this so many times before, and it was about to happen again, but, with Lyon being Lyon, he just closed his eyes, walked towards his friend, and prepared himself for the impact.

_THUMP, THUMP!_

Lyon had been prepared but obviously not enough; as the prince of Renais greeted his friend with two hard pats on the back, Lyon winced at the amount of power in Ephraim's slaps. When Lyon composed himself from the 'attack' he spoke in a shaken voice,

"Ephraim, it's nice to see you again, and I must say" Lyon stopped talking for a moment as he admired Ephraim's muscular body with a smile, "you're looking quite the hero these days!"

The prince of Grado had always complimented on his friends statuses, but he admired prince Ephraim more than anyone he knew, even his father, not because he was a strong leader like both of their fathers, but because more than anything; Lyon believed Ephraim to be a God, as he never once did anything mean to anyone to cause them harm.

Okay yes, Ephraim could sometimes be a little egotistic about his own stamina and genuine courage, not pure stupidity, genuine courage. But he was always there for him when Lyon needed a little comfort, and it was times like these when Lyon would travel to Renais for a few days at a time. He had been training with Ephraim for several months to learn how to handle a spear properly, as the small timid boy wanted to be more like Ephraim, strong, not really afraid of anything...that reminded Lyon of a time that Ephraim had demonstrated the fact that his heart was truly as strong as his head was…

"_No matter what, we will be here for you."_

Every time he remembered that experience it made the small boy smile. It made him smile because it reminded knew that Ephraim would do anything within his power to help his friends in times of trouble. Whenever he was around Ephraim, he felt safe and secure, because he truly knew that he _was_ safe and secure. Oh sure, he didn't always feel threatened wherever he went, but it gave him a small part of courage knowing the prince of Renais is around him, and that was all he needed.

Ephraim looked down at the prince of Grado curiously as he appeared to be lost in a dream world; his eyes weren't exactly focusing and his dry lips were twisting into a gormless smile.

"Lyon!" The prince of Renais called cautiously as he waved a hand over the blank face of the prince of Grado, not knowing whether or not Lyon would respond to him. At this, Lyon hastily regained control of his motions and looked up curiously at a bewildered-looking Ephraim.

"Yeah?" The prince of Grado replied almost automatically

"You lost in a dream world again?" Ephraim playfully tutted and shook his head with a grin, "That's not how a brave warrior acts, is it?"

Lyon looked into Ephraim's mysterious gaze only to see the prince of Renais let a muffled grin. It was true; Lyon was getting a lot of flashbacks lately, probably because he was worried about his father. Lyon found it hard to concentrate on anything that needed concentration, and he usually let his mind rest in an attempt to escape from his own thoughts sometimes. But nevertheless, he was in Renais now, with Ephraim and Eirika. Lyon couldn't help feel ashamed of himself and he couldn't bear the look in Ephraim's forgiving eyes any longer. He slowly tore his eyes away from the Godlike prince and noticed something in his right hand. Lyon had caught sight of the wooden spear that Ephraim was holding. Lyon's shame was soon totally replaced by excitement as looked back up at Ephraim,

"Ephraim, are we going to do some more practice today?" The prince of Grado asked hopefully, with a hint of excitement, a small smile forming on his timid face.

"Do you really want to?" Ephraim asked Lyon with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Come on, I'm almost as good as you now!" The prince of Grado had stated that sentence with an amount of power in his voice that forced even Ephraim to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" The prince of Renais wanted to know if these words were true, "We'll just have to see about that!"

As Ephraim spoke his last sentence, he took a few steps backwards as he twirled his spear around his arm in a rotating motion before catching it again perfectly. Lyon had seen him act like this so many times before that it no longer intimidated him. In fact, it only made him more confident in trying to beat him.

"Lyon! Catch!" With only a split second warning, the prince of Grado was caught off guard as Ephraim threw the spear towards Lyon non-lethally, and Lyon's brain didn't register the wooden pole flying vertically towards him in time to allow his hands to catch it…

_CLUNK!_

It took Lyon a few seconds to register what had happened. He closed his eyes and winced at the pain that was now searing in the bridge of his nose. He put his hands to the wound in an attempt to ease the pain, but that endeavour had failed, in fact, it made it worse. As his index fingers bordered the sides of his nose he heard a crack and his middle fingers felt a warm liquid protruding from his nostrils.

_Bollocks! Not again! _The prince thought to himself in anger. He always managed to cock-up on catching thrown items. But what really annoyed him was the fact his own lack of hand-eye coordination had led to him getting his nose broken. Again.

"You okay there Lyon?" The prince asked with a playful tone as he walked over to the wounded prince of Grado and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, although Lyon knew he was actually quite concerned about him, "That was quite a bang took to the nose there, my friend. I'm surprised that you're still standing. That's a new achievement isn't it? You're stamina has improved!" Lyon looked up Ephraim, who was smiling at him with false pride, in an obvious attempt to cheer him up. _He's doing it again. _Whenever Ephraim had accidentally injured Lyon in a 'scrap' as Ephraim's father would call it, he would say something to take Lyon's mind off of the injury.

_Ephraim, you don't need to be sympathetic. Everybody gets hurt every now and then, okay, not everyone gets their nose broken when their friends try to give them weapons, but it's just a fact of life. You can't be there for me forever. Of course it would a lot easier for me if you were always there to 'hold my hand' as my father says, but eventually I will need to step out on my own._

These grown up words were not easy for Lyon to believe, even though he invented them. Thinking them is hard enough, but saying them to Ephraim's face was just impossible. It might destroy their entire friendship. Then again, it might not, but it was a risk that Lyon would probably never be prepared to take. Eventually after throwing these words into a fireplace inside his mind in an attempt to forget them, the prince of Grado finally spoke,

"Yes, I'm fine Ephraim." Lyon's voice was rather shaken. "It's just that…"

"_Lyon!_"

When Lyon heard that voice, his voice was tailed away. As he turned his head towards the sound of the voice, he saw a familiar blue-haired princess that happened to be Ephraim's sister, running towards him with her arms open and a massive smile on face.

As Eirika got closer to Lyon, she noticed that Lyon was holding his hands over his nose, and her brother's hand was on his shoulder. This could only mean one thing; Ephraim had managed to hurt Lyon. Her smile soon turned into an angry scorn and her eyes narrowed at Ephraim as she stopped running and started walking forcefully towards the two men.

"Damnit Ephraim!" Everytime Lyon had been injured, Eirika was always the first one to take action against the assailant, in this case; Ephraim.

"Can't you just take it easy on the poor boy?" Eirika's voice was heavy with pity for the prince of Grado. And this just made Lyon feel worse. _Now I'm getting pity from Eirika too!_

- 6 -


End file.
